Jerry and Pam Kearney Host PACE "Breakout Minnesota" Gathering

Posted Dec. 17, 2015

In early November, Jerry and Pam
Kearney hosted a group of 11 Princeton undergraduates for a week at their lake
home on the Iron Range in NortheasternMN.Participating in
Princeton’s PACE Center for Community Engagement "Breakout Minnesota” project,
the students were studying the issues arising from the "mining jobs vs. the
environment” debate currently being argued in MN.After a hectic

day of meetings with competing
stakeholders, the students returned to our home to discuss the issues before a
roaring fire and then enjoy one of Pam’s regional cuisine dinners.We were impressed with the students’
enthusiasm and engagement!Anyone
interested in the students’ summary of their steep learning curve about the
issues can read their blog @ http://breakoutminnesota.tumblr.com/

On Dec. 15, Class president RICK
KITTO hosted a gathering of classmates from the Pacific Northwest at the Kittos' condo in the Pearl District in Portland, directly across the
street from the world-famous Powell’s Books. In attendance were BOB ANDRE, BRUCE DEBOLT, STEVE and Sandra
HOHF, CLIFF ROBERSON and GEORGE SHERIDAN as well as Woody and Anne English
’68 (photo, right. Left-to-Right: Hohf, Sheridan, Andre, DeBolt, Kitto, Roberson, English). The gathering was prior to
the reception and dinner at The Nines Hotel nearby to welcome the new president
of Princeton, and honorary '69 classmate, Christopher Eisgruber ’83.

The distance awards for the ‘69 gathering
went to Bob Andre, who was down from Seattle where he is still practicing law,
and Professor Skip Sheridan, up from Eugene where he is a professor of French
history at the University of Oregon.

It was something of a homecoming
for President Eisgruber, who went to high school in Corvallis, Oregon, where
his father was a professor at Oregon State University. He has a diverse background and
interests: Chris led the Corvallis HS chess team to a national championship;
majored in physics at Princeton; has a law degree and clerked for Supreme Court
Justice John Paul Stevens; and had been Princeton provost since 2004. He was greeted enthusiastically in
Portland by a dinner crowd of 250 Princeton alums and guests representing all
classes. He admitted that as a
high school student in the PNW he had his mind set on Stanford, but was not
admitted at The Farm so chose to attend Princeton—their loss, our gain—without
ever having visited the campus.

Princeton University Alumnus ’69, Robert
Buechner and Dick Adams,
retired P&G executive, have co-founded Champions for Urban Youth, an arm of
the not for profit Cincinnati Youth Collaborative, to
connect mature adults in our community with public school students. They
believe that through Champions
for Urban Youth, "Our entire
community will be enriched by the sharing of experiences and values caused by
bringing people together who come from different cultural and economic
backgrounds to generate win-win situations. The important point of this concept
is to provide individuals in our community the opportunity to connect with
schools in ways that they will feel will be of most interest to them. Then the
volunteers and the students will benefit.”

Bob Buechner has raised the bar for all of us as he puts forth a
compelling call-to-action through his new book, My Winning Season: Becoming a
Champion for Urban Youth.

Buechner and Adams hope that through Bob’s new book, the
concept of Champions for Urban Youth will gain some traction. "With so
many different opportunities for individuals to volunteer in our public schools
and other urban institutions, it only makes sense that there be an organization
active in the actual recruitment of individuals with both time and interest in
matching their skills with the needs of the community.”

ABOUT CHAMPIONS FOR URBAN YOUTH

The purpose of Champions for Urban Youth, founded in 2014,
is to connect mature adults in our community with public school students. This movement,
Champions for Urban Youth, encourages everyone to use their own gifts
and resources to affect positive change right in their own neighborhoods.